Descriptive Information

The American Geographical Society Library (AGSL) Digital Map Collection showcases maps from around the world. The cartography featured in this collection spans the globe from the 15th to 21st centuries, featuring maps held at the American Geographical Society Library. Expansion of this digital collection continues as maps are added on a regular basis into the website for viewing. The American Geographical Society Library houses one of North America&#39;s largest geography and map collections. The Library&#39;s former center of operations was in New York City, until it was transferred to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Libraries in 1978. The Society was created in the 1850&#39;s in order to collect geographical and statistical information in a library as a collection of maps, charts, and instruments. Currently, the American Geographical Society Library has an extensive collection of worldwide maps, atlases, books, journals, pamphlets, photographs, slides, landsat images, and digital spatial data. The Digital Project -- The maps were scanned at 300 dpi resolution using a large format scanner Colortrac 4280 in the American Geographical Society Library. Digital master files in the TIFF format serve as a source for JPEG2000 images presented in CONTENTdm software. Users can browse, pan, and zoom into the map files using JPEG2000 high resolution images. The records were built with CONTENTdm digital media management software using Dublin Core metadata.